I’m pleased to announce the release of my latest story, A Sweet Montana Christmas, which is the second book in my Cowgirls of Larkspur Valley series. To celebtrate, I’m giving away two $15 Amazon gift cards. 🙂
Bridal shop owner Maddie Kincaid used to believe in happy endings. After being jilted weeks before her wedding, she retreats to a friend’s guest ranch and runs into her old coworker, ex–bronc rider Sean Arteaga. While planning the ranch’s Christmas open house together, Maddie starts falling for him…until Sean’s attempt to protect her backfires. Can Maddie find a way to forgive him and finally get her own fairy-tale ending?
Here’s an excerpt:
Maddie slowed, squinting through the snow as she approached the guest ranch lodge, where Max and his family lived in the south wing, the north wing serving as VIP guest rooms. In addition to those rooms, there were six guest cottages and an old-fashioned bunkhouse that served as spillover lodging. The unique round barn on the property served as a wedding venue, which was how Maddie had maintained ties with the Tidwell family. She was not a wedding coordinator per se, but she’d gone the extra mile for clients, sometimes providing last-minute fitting and alterations.
By habit Maddie turned toward the vendor parking area behind the barn, then jerked the steering wheel to the left when a figure appeared out of the snow in front of her.
A cry escaped her lips as the utility trailer she towed took offense at the sudden turn and slid sideways in the wet snow, jolting the truck. Heart pounding, she released her death grip on the steering wheel after the truck came to a stop. A second later she was out of the truck, the wet snow pelting her face.
“Didn’t you see me?” a male voice demanded before she could ask if he was all right.
The voice was familiar, yet not. Definitely not one of the Tidwells, but Maddie couldn’t see the man’s face with the light coming from behind him, turning him into a dark silhouette.
“Obviously not since I don’t try to hit people with my truck on purpose. Didn’t you see me coming?”
“I did, but my escape options were limited.” Maddie frowned, and realized he could see her face, because the man’s tone shifted as he said, “Maddie Kincaid.”
It was a statement. One that tightened her gut as she realized why she knew the voice. She knew it because they’d worked together on this very ranch.
“You,” she said simply. Sean Arteaga. The man who’d shaken her world , and not in a good way.
“Me,” he replied. He was standing oddly, and she noticed that he had a cane in one hand. He followed her gaze. “It helps me get around.”
She didn’t know how to take the simple statement, so she reiterated, hoping for more of an explanation. “You need help getting around?”
“Yes.”
Maddie wiped the snow off her face, then wiped the moisture on her jeans, which were also getting damp. She only had forty zillion questions, the main one being, Why are you here?
She asked it out loud.
“I’m here to help out Max while he’s in Mexico.”
“So am I.” A thought hit her. “Are you going to Mexico with him?”
“I’m staying here.”
Numbness was becoming a familiar feeling. This was nothing like the cold shock of learning that Cody was calling it quits, but it wasn’t a pleasant sensation either. Maddie moistened her lips. “As am I.”
“No kidding.”
“I wouldn’t kid about that in a snowstorm after almost doing you in.” She looked him up and down, then said, “I thought I’d be alone here.”
It sounded like an accusation. Maybe it was. Why was he here horning in on her alone time?
“Join the club,” he muttered, sounding no happier about the circumstances than she was.
“Hey!”
They turned together toward the lodge where Dillon Tidwell stood hugging himself. The teen was barely visible through the falling snow.
“Dad wants to know if you’re going to stand in the snow or come in where it’s warm?”
“We’re coming,” Sean answered for both of them. Kind of a habit of his from the past.
Maddie forced herself to lower her hackles and a second later, she also forced herself to slow her steps when it became apparent that Sean was dealing with a serious limp. No wonder he wasn’t able to get out of the way of the truck.
“Don’t wait for me,” he all but growled.
Maddie glanced at him, and somehow managed to keep her mouth from falling open as the pole lamp he walked under illuminated the angry Y-shaped scar, the long arm of which traced a path from his temple to his jaw, .
“You’re not pretty anymore.” The words were blurted out before she could stop them. Sean Arteaga had been a gorgeous guy, confident, charming, overbearing, a touch judgy—at least where Maddie had been concerned.
Her heart rate ramped up as Sean came to a stop and slowly looked her way, a frown bringing his dark eyebrows together. “You’ve changed, too.”
“Life,” she said, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut.
He nodded, and without another word began limping toward the lodge. Maddie watched for a moment, wondering if it had been a car wreck or rodeo wreck that had put him in this condition.
Actually, it didn’t matter. What did matter was that it appeared that they were both staying at the Lucky Creek Guest Ranch, which meant that Maddie was going to have to find a new hideaway. She was not sharing the holidays with Sean Arteaga.
I hope you enjoyed the excerpt. In order to be considered for the drawing, just give me a quick hello from wherever you are. I have to be offline today due to a relative’s surgery , but I’ll be checking in when I can and I’m so curious as to where everyone is from. I’ll choose two winners who will receive $15 Amazon gift cards on Saturday, September 30. Thanks for dropping in today!